Power Outages Cripple Gaborone

Staff Writer | Monday March 3, 2014 14:47

The main mall has experienced it three times this week to be exact, with the latest surprise load-shedding hitting most parts of Gaborone from 3pm, till late at night, forcing businesses that usually close after 830pm, or that usually operate long into the wee hours to close shop.

It has been a sorry sight as shops such as Payless, KFC, Bimbos, fashion shops, lock their doors as early as  4pm, simply because there is no electricity to continue business. As for the street vendors who usually operate around the main mall or the Station and Bus Rank until after 7pm, they have also been forced to pack their goods and bolt out as soon as the now common but unplanned outages hit Gaborone.

Residents in the city and businesses alike have been affected by these outages.

Whatever happened to communication? The Botswana Power Corporation has not even issued a single statement explaining what is happening and how long we shall have to live with this.

A warning about the times of the outages would perhaps help businesses and residents plan ahead.

It only shows that even the BPC is no longer sure about their plant, that it catches them off guard the same as it does the rest of us.

This is a very unfortunate development that can only have negative repercussions for the economy.

It is more surprising that the latest problems have emerged so soon after the nation was assured by President Ian Khama that the power problems are being attended to, in his wide-ranging interview with Kaboyamodimo on Btv.

 We can only start wondering whether Batswana will have enough power in the winter months that are just around the corner. Should we expect worse?

 Surely the power outages in a middle to high-income economy such as ours, is such a stinking irony that can only taint the image of Botswana and regress our aspirations as an economy.

It is very disturbing that instead of focusing their resources on other things, families and companies now have to budget for generators and mini power stations, as a matter of urgency.

Surely this government can do better than this?